A young engineer, Max Peterson (Shane West) flies to Bangkok for an ordinary security installation job for a high-end client. When he arrives back at his hotel after a stunning demonstration of his technical skills, an unexpected DHL package awaits him on the concierge desk. Max has received a state of the art cellular phone. Later, in his hotel room, he receives an SMS message on the new phone, advising him to take advantage of a hotel special, and stay another day in Bangkok. After a short deliberation he decides to delay his flight home to the US, and stay one more day. The following morning Max awakes to find the flight he canceled horrifically exploded in mid-air, killing all passengers aboard. He continues to receive messages on the mysterious phone from an unknown source.

Now believing that the SMS message saved his life, Max follows the advice from another text message, and changes his plans to fly directly to the US, instead flying to Prague first. The cabbie who brings Max from the Prague airport to his hotel reveals himself to be a Russian hacker and technological maestro named Yuri (Sergey Gubanov). After receiving another text message, Max wins a huge amount of money at the local casino. Now that he is red hot at the casino with the help of his cell phone, Max alarms the casino’s chief of security, American expat John Reed (Edward Burns, Saving Private Ryan). Reed starts an investigation by sending an assistant, the very sexy young woman Kamila (Tamara Feldman), to seduce Max into revealing his secret. Simultaneously, Max is ordered by the management not to use his cell phone in the casino. To overcome security, Max asks Yuri to fix his phone so he can retrieve the messages secretly. Yuri supplies Max with an earpiece that allows Max to hear incoming messages. Shortly afterward, Max wins a huge jackpot thanks to an SMS message.

After Max’s big win, Reed decides to end his winning streak, but his former colleague, FBI Special Agent Grant (Ving Rhames), is now pursing the matter. Grant informs Reed that the FBI has created a special task force, with himself at the lead, and that mysterious text messages have been sent with different kinds of instructions and advice to many different people in the United States. He explains that it appears in the form of a text message on mobile phones and pagers, or emails on computers. The advice given abruptly changes the lives of the people who follow it. The people have not been linked together by any means, and they range from simple salesclerks to high-ranking government officials. The only thing in common is that they all grow rich and die soon after. Grant’s supervisor, NSA Director Raymond Burke (Martin Sheen), monitors the situation with Max but keeps his true motivation secret.

FBI agents apprehend Max. Under pressure, Max agrees to cooperate in the investigation. The FBI and the NSA finally locate the source of the mysterious messages. They are being sent from inside the US, via the Echelon system. Someone is using this extremely important system for unknown and dangerous purposes.

Some real facts: In 1987 the US government established a highly sophisticated computer system called “Echelon.” It was originally designed as a communication infiltration system during the Cold War. In the late nineties it was used to help fight organized crime. In 2001, the Bush Administration injected billions more dollars into Echelon to turn it into a highly effective anti-terrorism tool. Echelon intercepts every phone call, text-message and email; traces television and radio broadcasts; and picks up conversations through window glass vibration as well as bugged public centers. Thousands of sub-computer stations around the world feed its giant central mother core. Echelon’s unique feature is that it is completely automated, self-contained and independent. The system traces, intercepts and analyzes key words and phrases, and when necessary it informs a very small circle of individuals. The Echelon system is directly under the control of the NSA.

NSA Director Burke orders his agents neutralize Max, thereby assuring the Echelon routine remains Top Secret. Max, however, survives their attack. Accompanied by Reed, Max goes to Moscow with the aide of Mr. Mueller (Jonathan Pryce, Pirates of the Caribbean), the owner of the Prague casino. The super-rich Mueller wants to shut down the cell-phone messages and prevent the ruin of his casinos worldwide. In Moscow, Max once again receives assistance from the Russian hacker. Yuri investigates all of the previous events that have occurred between Echelon and Max, then explains the anomalies are the results of a very strong and logical computer algorithm. Yuri’s discovery: Echelon behaves as though it is intelligent, as if it were self-aware, a person. A person protecting himself. Upon discovering this information, Burke tries to exploit the situation by expanding Echelon’s reach as a lawless surveillance tool.

Finally, after a number of unexpected and dramatic turns, Max, Reed and Grant resolve the logical problem at the heart of Echelon’s mischief, a remote bunker in the American Midwest. While Max tries to outsmart the super-computer, Reed and Grant hold off a squad of government agents who follow Burke’s orders by attempting to penetrate the facility and stop Max.